Funcom apologizes for enabling PvP in Dune Awakening PvE zone, will return lost items

Although PvP is a major part of Funcom’s multiplayer survival crafting hit Dune: Awakening, the deserts of Arrakis feature areas in which only PvE is enabled, allowing for peaceful coexistence with other users. That harmony found a sudden end on July 7, 2025, when the studio pushed an update that stripped away the Deep Desert’s protection from PvP.

All of a sudden, the previously peaceful area erupted in PvP violence, with many players losing their lives, bases, and equipment. Funcom has now apologized for this incident.

“This was an oversight in our development process and internal communications, which led to people suffering an unfortunate amount of lost bases and equipment,” the studio stated. “We’re incredibly sorry that this happened and we want to acknowledge that this should have been handled better. We’ve changed our internal processes as a result of this and will be better in the future.”

Players losing items in the chaos will be reimbursed. Funcom stated that players “can expect the reimbursed materials, items, and vehicle components to show up in the in-game ‘Claim Rewards’ tab by the end of this week.”

The developers also detailed some of the points that are next on their agenda, now that the time of immediate post-launch support has ended. A big item on the list is the ongoing struggle to get cheaters removed and increase the protections against cheats and exploits. Funcom also wants to get more quality-of-life improvements online and investigate issues where players are losing items or vehicles due to bugs.

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